Rule Number 23
by chrysalis escapist
Summary: bad things are happening at the lab, and Mac ..., not to be taken too seriously. Mac/Stella, Adam, a tiny bit of Flack/Angell and ... Gerrard! One-shot


Rule Number 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the CSI:NY characters. Same goes for NCIS (Gibbs).**

**Thanks to **_**ten81CSI**_** for the info on this rule.**

Mac tries to take in what he sees before him._ This is not good. This is not good at all._

He whips out his cell and flips it open. He stares at it. _What do you mean, emergency calls only? This _is _an emergency._

"Stella."_ … Stella! STELLA!_

-o-

Stella rubs her temples. There's this feeling again that something is wrong. _Mac?_

She reaches for her cell and calls him, but she doesn't get through. _Yeah, sure. Why did I even expect anything else?_

She frowns. If she can sense that there's something wrong with him, maybe she can also sense what it is, and where he is. _Just concentrate._

-o-

Mac wraps his hands around the steaming hot liquid. Partly to steady them. He can't quite keep his eyes from staring into the black depths.

After a few sips he feels ready to speak. "Thanks. I don't know what I would have done without your help."

Stella's lips crinkle into a smile. "Anytime. I'm glad I could help." She takes a sip of her own.

-o-o-

Stella walks down one of the corridors of the lab thinking about the case captured in the folder she's holding. A second later she's pinned against the wall.

A frantic lab tech, arms going like the wings of a windmill, comes scooting past, casting her a terrified look.

Stella peels herself off the wall and takes another step. Next thing she knows something metallic swishes past her nose. Ends in a clanking noise a few steps away before she has time to swallow. Carefully she peeks into the break room, is almost thrown backwards by a yell that comes from it.

Sending the whole lab, people and all, into shivers.

"BUY YOUR OWN!"

-o-o-

Stella is about to enter one of the labs. And she would, if it weren't for two figures dressed in white coming shooting out of it. One swerves, arms stretched out for balance, like an airplane in a curve. And he's gone. The other comes to a halt on the opposite wall, obviously wishing he could tunnel through it. Adam.

Poor guy. Stella is sure he has nothing to do with it, was just a bystander. Before she knows it her arm is in the air, catching the cup that comes flying out of the room.

"Hey," she enters the lion's den, holding the cup out before her, "you might want to reuse that."

"He's just drunk my coffee. This guy" Mac points through the door, "has just drunk _my_ coffee. Can you believe that?"

No. No, she cannot believe that anybody would be so out of their minds to drink Mac's coffee. But apparently … some new lab techs aren't going to stay for long.

-o-o-

Stella puts a fiber sample under the microscope for comparison.

"Oh, rats!"

Everything has gone dark. _Great!_ Her shift has most likely just become longer. Of course there are emergency power generators, but not all machines are connected to them. As for example the microscope. Stella frowns; fine, she'll find something else to do.

Half an hour later she's filling out another one of those numerous forms under the pitiful flicker of the emergency lighting. Probably just as well, otherwise she'd have put off the paperwork. Then a thought strikes her.

"Oh … no!" She scrambles to her feet, hastens to Mac's office.

A little light flickering inside. She sees him holding a cigarette lighter under his cup. Snipping his fingers every other moment because the lighter gets too hot. But the coffee doesn't.

-o-

She almost jumps when Adam is suddenly behind her.

"Hey … eh … I fitted some … _extra _equipment in the lab to be able to keep going … in cases like this. I guess it's against the rules, tapping into the power supply, but … you need some coffee?" Adam's gaze tells her that the question is not really directed at her.

She almost hugs him.

-o-o-

Stella strolls down the corridor together with Flack and Angell, discussing another case. Concentrating, hearing only their own footsteps. Then suddenly another pair of footsteps, and something white steaming past them. Knocking Flack off his feet. The tall detective finds himself suddenly a head smaller than Angell and clinging to her for support.

She smiles down at him, "Hey, where're your reflexes, Detective? Or was that an attempt to get down on your knees before me?"

"What the …" Stella pricks her ears to figure out what's going on in the room the lab tech has just run from.

A strange sound coming from it, like …

_Not again!_

With a sigh Stella reaches for her pocket and waves the white handkerchief she has pulled from it in the doorframe.

"Mac? I'm coming in, don't throw anything, okay?"

She continues to use the handkerchief, but now to dab a few pearls of sweat from Mac's forehead.

"Hey, easy, okay? You can always have another cup." She thinks of the emergency pack she has hidden in her office.

"Not from this cup, bloody bastard used it as an ashtray. You'll never get that taste out."

She sees Mac has passed boiling point. Only one thing she can do now.

-o-

Stella stands in the corridor, absorbed in reading a file. It seems. She's watching the people passing by. As one particular lab tech approaches she lets out a soft whistle.

He doesn't have time to look up. One particular cup comes whizzing out of the break room and crashes into him.

Stella grins. Mac is good at using all kinds of weaponry.

-o-o-

"Hey," Mac fumes, "that's my coffee!"

"So?" Gerrard wonders.

Stella's smile is treacherously friendly, "What he's saying is: put it down this very instant or he'll kill you!"

"He can't do that!" Gerrard bursts out.

"Of course he can. Whether he'll get away with it is another question. But you see," her tone is now cunningly friendly, "we are the CSIs here, so I wouldn't risk it."

Gerrard looks at the cup in his hand, at Mac standing a few feet away barely containing himself, at Stella's smile, and back at the cup. "Where's the problem?"

"Say," Stella's voice is still threateningly soft, "you really don't know Gibbs' rule?" No sign of recognition from Gerrard. "Rule Number 23: never mess with a marine's coffee if you want to live."

"Oh well, whatever." Gerrard grunts, putting the cup down for Mac to take.

Mac almost jumps for it, eager to finally take a sip.

Then a growl begins to fill the room that makes even Stella step back. Why should she protect Gerrard anyway? She takes another step away from the danger zone.

"You …" Mac jabs his finger at Gerrard who hastens behind a chair, eyes suddenly as big as saucers, "you put artificial sweetener into _MY_ coffee!"

Gerrard's fingers curl around the back of the chair and he lifts it up. Pointing the legs in Mac's direction he cautiously backs out of the room.

"Good job." Stella can't help grinning, adding in a whisper, "Wish he'd never come back."

"I'll drink to that." Mac says, his eyes immediately softening again as they fall on Stella.

"Good. I think I have just the thing then." Stella pours coffee she has brewed intuitively.

Mac smiles at his miracle worker and they clink cups.

* * *

Eh, yeah … so I guess Mac went a bit OOC, but you should see me when I don't get my tea :). Thanks for taking the time to read, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think. All comments are welcome any time, and all logged reviews replied to.


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